its effects p. 158 159 Grace raises our hope to the expectation of a sovereign good p. 160 How sin is expulsed by grace p. 184 185 186 seq Grace compared to the essence of the Soul p. 192 How grace cleanses the Soul from all iniquity p. 193 194 Why grace doth not quiet all motions of sensuality p. 195 Grace purifyes all the powers of the Soul p. 196 God imparts his graces by degrees p. 224 The power of sanctifying grace p. 309 God God is the final end of all his works p. 337 God hath an essential glory and what it is ibid. He hath likewise an external accidental glory ibid. God is more glorified by a good than bad Soul p. 338 348 Every being glorifyes God p. 339 Why man above all in this world ought most to glorify God 340 341 Why God is delighted with our sufferings p. 385 Good works How do they merit a recompence p. 309 310 H Heart The heart the source of all evil and good p. 196 How St. Katharine of Sienna lost her heart p. 199 Character of a heart defiled with sin p. 201 God exacts only our hearts p. 202 The misery of a humane heart ibid. Honour Sacrificed by Christ on the Cross p. 429 Hope The comforts which hope brings to a Soul p. 160 161 The first sign of God's favour is to give us hope p. 332 The definition of hope p. 333 The motives of hope ibid. Holy Ghost His operations in a Soul p. 229 230 seq Humility Praise of this vertue p. 395 Not to be humble is to be disobedient ibid. Two kinds of humility p. 397 The effects of humility ibid. How pleasing to God p. 402 Homicide Terrours of mind which attend homicide p. 294 An injury not to be repaired p. 295 It destroyes God's image ibid. To prevent this he forbad in the old law the eating of blood p. 299 It is never left unrevenged ibid. Why a murthered body bleeds at the presence of the murtherer p. 299 300 I. Incarnation The wonders of this mystery set forth p. 16 No creature could satisfye for sin so that it was a mystery of love p. 17 Ingratitude The ingratitude of David p 232 Injury All injuries done are against God p. 89 307 Job Job excused from sin in cursing the day of his birth p. 116 117 Why God would not permit Satan to touch upon Job's life p. 384 Impiety Definition of it p. 285 seq Justice God's justice is distributive punitive and remunerative p. 318 319 seq To be just implyes an aggregation of all vertues p. 322 Justification The first step is not made without the concurrence of our wills p. 157 A justifyed Soul is filled with joy p. 156 seq Intention We shall be rewarded and punished according to our intention p. 204 Inspiration It highly imports not to reject the least good inspiration p. 224 Infirmity An infirm constitution and sickness not to be repined at p. 144 145 Instruction To teach others the way of salvation the highest employment p. 277 278 279 It is an employment envyed by the Angels ibid. Why Masters have not pensions assigned them by commonwealths p. 279 Ioy. Joy the effects of grace p. 56 seq Many blessings accompany a spiritual joy p. 162 163 Two kinds of joy p. 240 241 What ought to be the motive of our joy p. 243 The means to arrive at this joy p. 246 247 K. Knowledge Why it is good to know our iniquity p. 62 63 64 65 66 seq King In what sense Kings offend against God alone p. 81 The greater the person is that offends the greater is his offence 82 Why Kings are obliged to give good example p. 83 84 85 L. Love The properties of God's love p. 29 St. Peters love to Christ p. 233 Love assaults the Divinity in his throne p. 277 Why we should love our Neighbour p. 307 God's love in playing the merchant vvith poor man p 345 To overcome self-love the shortest way to perfection p. 382 Christ's love to man on the Cross p. 429 430 Christ's love to man in the institution of the Eucharist p. 436 seq Law What is law eternal p. 269 What is the lavv of reason p. 270 Positive divine lawes p. 272 The Mosaick lavv p. 274 275 The end of the Mosaick lavv perfection of the Evangelical lavv p. 419 420 421 Man Man is a vessel of mercy not merit p. 2 Man cannot persevere in grace without a special aid p. 3. Man is diverted from many sins as misbelieving his nature p. 290 How little man can do if left to himself p. 326 327 seq Man is created to praise God p. 349 Mercy It is God's mercy not the value of our actions by which we are saved p 9 His mercy is immense and exceeds all our demeries p. 12 His mercy is a Bulwark against despair p. 14 By Gods great mercy is meant the mystery of the incarnation p. 18 A series of Gods mercies p. 21 No Creature is destitute of Gods mercy p. 23 Why we have more Presidents of his mercy than justice p. 24. His mercy appears in reward of the elect p. 25 He distributes his mercies more in the measure of his love than wisdom p. 27 28 Martyrdom A description of what is requisite to be a martyr p. 150 151 152 Masters We owe more to our Masters than Parents p. 267 Why there is a dependency of one another in the conveyance of intellectual notions p. 267 268 Misery Miseries of this life set forth p. 114 115 No misery like to that of sin p. 174 Merit Definition of merit p. 310 We merit by vertue of grace but the effect of it comes from Gods promise p. 310 311 O Occasions of sin to be avoided p. 44 45 Omnipotency The belief of it raises our hope p. 290 P. Prophet Conditions requisite to a true Prophet p. 130 Several degrees of prophetick lights p. 130 131 Praise General heads of praise that man is to give to God p. 342 343 Pride and fear forbidden in those that would praise God p. 346 Prison Restraint occasion of much good p. 146 Providence How comfortable the belief of it p. 289 Persecution How beneficial p. 155 Passion How dangerous it is p. 301 302 Several benefits of Christs passion p. 431 Predestination No security of our state in this life p. 188 189. How we are predestinated p. 244 245 The effects of our eternal election Ibid. Perfection Praise of a state of perfection p. 440 What it is p. 252 440 The effects of perfection and its praise ibid. Perfect Souls if they fall do soon rise again p. 256 257 Three degrees of perfection p. 265 Pleasure Difference 'twixt corporal and spiritual pleasures p. 161 248 Pennance To pennance succeeds many glad tidings p. 162 164 seq Necessity of pennance p. 394 Prayer How we are to dispose our selves to prayer and what we are to ask p. 335 336 The power of prayer p. 405 Prayer works no change in Gods decrees p. 406 Prayer the first gift of God p. 408 How we ought to value it p. 413 seq R. Remorse Remorse of conscience alwaies attends sin p. 71 seq Resurrection Belief of the resurrection very comfortable p. 166 S. Sin The agitations of a soul defiled with sin p. 182. There is a period set to every man's sins which is called the measure of their iniquityes p. 220 221 The marks of this period p. 221 222 No less equal to what we lose by sin p. 233 Whilest in sin we are capable of no right to heaven p. 32 Why some are drawn from sin others not p. 33 Sin the greatest of evils p. 38 Greater sins require a greater mercy p. 45 46 47 The terrours of sin p. 76 seq p. 174 175 Man's imbecility caused by original sin p. 99 seq What remedy in the old Law for original sin in women p. 110 The penalty and consequencies of original sin p. 110. seq The benefit of confessing our sins 126 125 It becomes God to punish sin p. 176 Sacrifice Why God required not of David a sacrifice p. 351 Who the minister of a sacrifice p. 352 357. seq In the law of nature the first born male were Priests Ibid. That some sensible thing be offered is required in a sacrifice p. 353 Definition of a sacrifice p. 355 Other conditions of a sacrifice p. 354 Holocausts the most perfect sacrifice p. 363 Why sacrifices commanded p. 368 369 Divers sorts of sacrifices p. 370 The jews zeal in mater of sacrifice Ibid. Sacrifice of the new law most perfect p. 424 428. Sorrow There is a twofold sorrow p. 370 How pleasing a pious sorrow is to God Ib. What is a troubled spirit p. 377 Whether the soul or body most conducing to a sacrifice of a troubled spirit p. 377 Motives of a true sorow p. 390. seq Security No security from sin in this life Ibid. Speech How Croesus son came to his speech Ibid. How one is morally dumb and how cured Ibid. Seneca His opinion concerning such as lost their lives upon the score of friendship or a publick interest p. 148 249 T. Truth Three kinds of truth p. 121 Knowledge of truth most delightful p. 123 124 Trangressions Internal trangressions only punished by God p. 197 198 A certain period is set to every man's transgression p. 220 221 Signs of this helpless desolation p. 221 222 223 Tribulation Tribulation the securest way to heaven p. 147 Senecas opinion of tribulation manfully sustained p. 348 Temptation The difficulty to resist temptation p. 202 V. Vertue Moral vertues contribute a facility in doing well and wherein they consist p. 213 Vertue it self a reward to the actours p. 241 Delight of vertuous actions p. 242 243 Vncertainty All things uncertain as to the issue in this life p. 239 W. Will. The will is more prejudiced by original sin than the understanding p. 6. God doth never violence our will to our prejudice p. 35 The greatness of the soul by free will p. 313 Whether it had not been better to have done well by necessity 314 315 FINIS
perswade First offering to their consideration how much it comforts Man to believe there is a God for in doing this we contemplate a Being infinite and sovereign that presides and rules in the World so that the World possesses in him a sovereign good Is it not then better the VVorld should enjoy such a Being which derives from himself alone his essence and existence than to be deprived of it For in believing there is a God we consecrate our love unto him we pay him the homage of obedience than which nothing is more delightful For to serve an Object of so much excellency is the height of glory we raise our selves finally one day to enjoy this accomplished Being as the ultimate end to which we are designed and every glance of this hope creates in us a new contentment Now if we have not the belief of a God what followes We convert our selves to a Creature inferiour to us on this we rely to this we submit in this we hope who being filled with misery and want can contribute little or nothing to make us great or happy so we must needs languish without any hopes of a full satisfaction Besides suppose there were no such thing as a God we are yet in as good a condition as impious Atheists for then we shall tast no punishment after Death no more than they but if there be a God they have lost all in having not acknowledged the Worlds Sovereign nor performed any duty to him so that in all Events it is better to believe than disbelieve a Deity For besides the joyes our hopes afford us in this life of eternal felicity we run no hazzard of ruine as poor unfortunate impious Atheists do Next he layes before the impious that he who believes not a providence resembles an Orphan bereft of his Parents and hath none to take care of him is like a person at Sea in the midst of Tempests who fancies to be without a Pilot and exposed to the mercy of the Waves Whereas the contrary opinion settles us in peace and tranquility and in all the disasters of this life we have this consolation that his wise and indulgent Providence will make all our seeming misfortunes to end in happiness if with patience we expect but the Issue Again he would have the wicked represent unto themselves what a comfort it is to place God in our thoughts enriched with all kind of perfections that he is an unfathomed Abyss of excellency that he is most happy most wise most powerful most good and merciful So that our dependance on such a Sovereign cannot but add much to our contentment to think he hath abundance to supply all our indigency and goodness to confer it upon us if we prove faithful to his service When he had thus ravished them with a discourse of God's amiable perfections he tells them they were created of nothing and so distills into them a conception and belief of his Omnipotency and by that stirrs up their hope For if he drew them out of nothing with more facility can he restore life and raise them from their Ashes This belief gives us a knowledge of our extraction and shews it is noble in that we belong to God we are subjects to a Lord all powerful who can reward and punish according as we deserve Next he minds them that being composed of Soul and Body the one is immortal by which he is elevated above all other Creatures and resembles the glorious Angelical spirits Now had they not this assurance by faith what desolation and despair would seize them at the approach of Death when like Beasts they must come to lose all and perish for ever in corruption whereas the belief of a Resurrection renders Death unto us but like a sound sleep in the space of which we remove from one habitation to a better So that the belief of the Soul's immortality is accompanied with the greatest consolation that can be His next overture is that they are designed to eternal beatitude from which article proceeds a most ravishing harmony for it is the sole charm by which all the traverses and afflictions of this life are made supportable and the only ingredient which sweetens the bitterness of misfortunes here It is just like a person in distress and born to a great inheritance who still animates himself with the expectation of his Estate which will be the more welcome to him as his hardship hath been the greater no less do our pretensions to Paradise plant in us hope charity humility and constancy in all events Our Holy Penitent notwithstanding all this is not so arrogant as to perswade himself the force of his Arguments will infallibly prevail upon the impious For though the advantages of Faith prescribe an Antidote against any Poyson of misfortune either in this life or the next though it contain nothing that is not holy and pure nothing that is not worthy the Majesty of God yet he knowes that Man by the strength of nature cannot purchase a compleat beatitude that neither by the succour of any natural Agent can he arrive to his perfect happiness because it is above and exceeds any created vertue so that it is necessary God should there act immediately himself as in the raising a dead person to life or restoring sight to the blind whence St. Austin sayes None can give eternal life but the Author of Eternity And therefore our wise Penitent sayes not he will convert the impious but that they shall be converted which is to say the power of God's grace must strike the stroke Lastly he acquaints them that though they are to be illuminated inspired and introduced into their happiness by God himself yet the sole way to dispose themselves for this must be by their own good works and actions Not but that the Omnipotency of God might give them beatitude without exacting any thing at their hands but the order of his Providence would have it so that Man should exercise himself in virtue and labour for the purchase of his final perfection To which end God assists him with his grace and gives supernatural helps which proportion his good works to the greatness of beatitude unto which he may raise himself by degrees by many labours and pious exercises so to purify and the better to dispose himself for so sublime and transcending an end In conclusion our great Doctor bids them gather from this his discourse upon what foundation they stand that if they will have a Crown they must fight for it they must desert their wayes of impiety change their gluttony into a sober repast their softness and delicacies into austerity their vain joyes into Tears of Repentance their libidinous desires into languishments of love and affection towards God If then the most impious will submit to this doom and follow these rules his Holy Providence hath set down he will not blush to assert with confidence that even the most enormous sinner shall
they are to wade through in making good their fidelity to God they throw themselves upon the points of Halberts and other instruments of severity without the least whining or flinching at their sharpness they take in as it were with the same relish the Gall of misfortunes and desolations and the Hony of prosperities and comforts No stormy season hinders their Journey and that which disturbs soft and effeminate Spirits is to them matter of joy and repose because they possess what they desire to wit affliction so that all things which pass under the name of Adversity are not so but to the wicked who make ill use of them in prizing the Creature more than the Creatour Hence it is that the general spirit of Saints have carried them on to be ambitious of suffering and to reckon it amongst one of the choice favours of Heaven for they had learnt by experience that if God with one Hand reaches unto them the Cup of his passion it is but by snatches and as it were a sup whilst with the other he gives them large draughts of consolation It is noted in the sacred Text that God laid open the person of Job to all the assaults of Satan but with this reserve that he touch not upon his life and this not in regard that death would have ecclipsed the glory of that great Champion but because he would not be deprived of such a Combatant to whose conflict he and his blessed Angels were intent with much satisfaction and so would not lose the pleasure of seeing this stout skirmish fought out to the last 'twixt him and his Enemy And as the Heathen Emperours took great delight to see a Christian enter into the list with a wild Beast so the King of Heaven is solaced with the sight of one of his Saints when he maintains a Fight against those fierce Beasts of Hell Seneca out of the principles of humane wisdom drew this excellent saying that no object was more worthy in the Eyes of the gods than to behold a stout Man with a settled countenance unmoved to struggle with adverse Fortune and truly the delay our blessed Saviour made in sending succour to his Disciples endangered by a storm at Sea sufficiently hints unto us the pleasure God takes to see the Just row against the stream tugg and wrestle with all the might they can against the stream and afflictions of this World Thus you see how happy our Holy Penitent hath ajusted his Sacrifice to the lines of God's will and that he never spake more emphatically than when he said A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit St. Bonaventure sayes that honor is due to God in four several respects and in like manner we ought in as many wayes render it unto him First in consideration of many blessings and this is to be returned by our gratitude and acts of thanksgiving Next we owe him honor in that he hath laid his commands upon us and this we perform by our obedience and submission to his Laws Thirdly his greatness and sovereignity exact it at our hands and this is paid by the vertue of Latria and adoration Lastly honor is due unto him in that he hath been offended and injuriously treated by sin Now the honor due to him in this point is restored by Penitential acts and by a troubled spirit Because in regard of his displeasure and to make reparation for the contempts thrown upon his Majesty he is ready to humble himself and apply all his endeavour to works of piety so far as even to afflict himself that he might honor the Divine Justice which requires that sin should never go unpunished Wherefore God is delighted in these painful satisfactory acquittances which we often give him written in our sweat and blood And Jesus Christ makes of them a present to his Father with his own from whence the value of ours is derived and there they find acceptance not upon the score of any contentment it is to God that we are tormented either in Soul or Body but meerly in that by them his Justice is honored and exalted and the Palms of our victory more resplendent This anxiety of spirit supported with a patient resignation and strengthened with a fervent prayer purchased to the distressed Anna and to the Jewish Nation that great Prophet Samuel This same disturbance of Spirit carried on by a generous submissive resolution against all the Machinations of Saul put into the Hands of our Penitent the Scepter of Juda in a word it seems to be a principle setled in Heaven that without this Sacrifice of a troubled spirit he will not part with his blessings It may be objected that God knowes the Hearts of Men and what they will do and therefore he need not this external Testimony Next that Christ's merits being of an infinite value ours appear altogether superfluous to which I answer First that his external glory consisting in the visible homages payd to him by his Creatures this would be wanting should he give them no occasion to make it manifest and shew unto the World he hath dependants who value no suffering in proportion to the duty they owe him Besides the satisfaction we shall take in Heaven to have done something to merit our Beatitude will certainly be a great addition to our Contentment As to the other though I confess the merits of Christ all sufficient yet this will not excuse us from offering what we can in satisfaction for the Honor and glory of all our actions belong to God now it being an Act of injustice to defraud any one of his revenue no less is it against equity to deprive God of the glory due unto him Wherefore a life that contributes not to his glory is perverse and wicked Again he that owns a Tree hath likewise right to the fruit it bears if the Land be mine the Crop also is at my disposal the labour and service of a Horse is due to his Master In like manner all that we are all the good we do or shall do is the work of God and a present with which he enriches us that we might be able to give something to him Wherefore as all is his our duty binds us to consecrate all our interiour and exteriour actions to promote his honor and glory And since it is reasonable sin should be punished our Holy Penitent submits to the decree exposes himself to be wracked and tortured by what punishment the Divine Majesty shall think good either in Mind or Body nor can he ever repine whilst he reflects That a Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit The Application Here we are taught there is no Sacrifice conveyes an odour so pleasing unto Heaven as that of a Soul angustiated upon the score of God's cause The oblation of a Holocaust imports the reduction of it to Ashes that of a troubled spirit is a transmutation into the Holy Ghost who promises to be the intellect to be the Tongue nay
and become an Object pleasing to the all-pure-Eye of his Creatour Wherefore with Reason he inserts this clause sprinkle me with Hysop and I shall be cleansed The Application In imitation of our Holy Penitent we are to covet the bitter draughts of contradictions in this life denying our Will what sensuality prompts us to that we may have a full swinge of our desires in the vast course of Eternity tribulation is the securest clue to be directed by in ease and pleasure vertue must needs run a great risque Fire in its own Sphere conserves it self without any fuel to maintain it so vertue would have done in Paradise where the Goods of the Body concurred with those of the Soul but this Concord was dissolved by sin St. Ambrose likewise sayes of Job that he had shewed himself a valiant commander in peace but not a conquerour in War and that his troubles and afflictions purchased unto him the Palms of a compleat Victory For Earthly Crowns are made of Gold but Heavenly Diadems of the Thorns of tribulation Ah then let us aspire after these Amen CHAP. XVI Lavabis me super nivem dealbabor Thou wilt wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow OUr Holy Prophet thus purified and calcined in the Furnace of adversity will not rest there but is ambitious of a further sublimation he beholds himself much refined the dross of many frailties separated from him by temporal chastisements and in this harsh School he hath learnt a profitable Lesson which is not to advance in a spiritual Course is to loose ground wherefore these sprinkling dews of Grace do not satisfie he must be washed o're and all-bathed in streams of Martyrdom this will give him a tincture outvying the purity of Snow this will consummate all his labours and set on him the last and highest stroke of perfection Thou wilt wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow It is pleasant to read Seneca and other Philosophers in this point of Sacrificing life for a publick interest or on the score of friendship they alwayes place this action amongst the most Heroick whereof Man is capable in this life The Romans had several solemnities to eternize the memory of such as lost their lives in the service of the Republick The Graecians employed all their Eloquence in setting out the Glory of those who dyed for their Country believing that Souls separated from the Body upon such a score were depurated and free from the mixture of any inordinate desires or affections and consequently are disposed to receive the highest beatitude that a created substance can attain unto Xamolxis of Greece for his Wisdom was by the Egyptians ranked amongst the gods whose memory to the Graecians was so Sacred that yearly they sent one of their most learned Doctours to be Sacrificed before his Shrine and at his departure towards Egypt the other Collegiate Philosophers were all oppressed with grief each one repining he was not worthy to be chosen for so glorious a design The reason why this Opinion grew so prevalent amongst them was that love and respect is best expressed by an act of homage and Sacrifice now by the oblation of life we at once give up all our interests of honour pleasure or what ever we can pretend to in this World and witness in that action we more value the cause for which we suffer than our own Being and in a manner do declare the person for whom we dye to have a perfect Dominion over us and destroying our selves would insinuate that we are nothing at least willing to become nothing so we may but pay to the Object of our loves the tribute of glory and greatness The generous Heart of our Petitioner had trampled under his Feet the Enemies of God's people he had purchased many Laurels by his active fortitude and passing from thence to the passive part he had manifested by his patience and perseverance he wanted not this more noble branch of fortitude and that he might crown all his victories he now contracts all the circumstances of a compleat magnanimity in this Petition that he might give up his life and make a publick satisfaction for the injury done by his Exorbitancies to his dear Creatour Thou wilt wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow He knew well this supereminent degree of fortitude which gives a check to Audacity nor permits its Salleys beyond the limits of a just moderation and which charms likewise the retiring spirits of fear and makes them return to their first stations there to stand upon the defensive is a vertue too sublime for Man if considered within the verge of his natural force and abilities For martyrdom implyes a profession of the true Faith which none without a divine Aid can perform It being necessary to an Act of Salvation that it be accompanied with thâ— power and means of Grace wherefore he places the Energy of this Action in the Author of Grace and cryes O God if you will wash me that is if you will shower down the dew of your Grace I will dispose my Soul for the reception and so manage the gift as every reproach every stroke of the Executioner every drop of Blood drawn from my Veins shall have its effect of expiation to cleanse my stains to purify my Soul and give it a whiteness which will surpass that of Snow Again though the Psalms of this victory be never so precious yet unless a storm of Tyranny convey them to him he can only languish in desire For the infliction of Death must come from anothers hand his part in this combat must be only to accept and suffer 'T is true the Holy Ghost proclaims that violence must bear away the wreath of this immortality but it is understood a violence not so much active as passive We must stoop to oppression become a play-game and mockery of the World we must tune forth the praises of our Creatour more by expiring than speaking and from these black mixtures of cruelty will result as from the Phoenix ashes a production far beyond what we could even hope for in recompence You shall wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow We must not doubt but the Soul of our Petitioner ambitious of perfection had all the internal affections which move to this end as charity obedience religion faith hope and an heroick fortitude The first to wit charity raises him to acts of love by which God is more prizable to him than his own life or any other thing imaginable Next this amorous contemplation was accompanied with a perfect submission to the decrees of Heaven whilst Semei threw stones and curses at him he kept close to this principle forbidding any punishment to the Actour lest sayes he God may have ordained it for his tryal or chastisement of his Sins and what he Wills is just and ought to be the Rule of our obedience without any dispute or haesitation The third ingredient to this dye of
of Justice which is the End we tend to in this motion Besides justification is not bestowed on us by God meerly to avoid punisment it is designed as well to fit us for Heavenly rewards this St. Paul testifyes ad Rom. 8. That God glorifyes whom he hath justifyed of which glory a simple absolution cannot be the Subject since no person by a judicial sentence clearing him from guilt is thought by that to merit a reward but to exchange the condition of an enemy for that of a friend of a domestick nay of a childe this must needs be wrought by something more than a bare condition In this Petition then he implores virtually the infusion of justifying grace a divine quality inherent it the Soul which like a bright ray of the Sun disperses all the Clouds of sin before whose presence without a miracle it cannot subsist one sole moment It likewise enclines the Soul to Christian duties and from that source do flow all the vâ—rtuous and pious action we perform For as sin expells justice being opposite to habitual grace not only by way of privation but contrariety So a supream act of love opposes habitual sin and by a contrary working as an efficient cause destroyes it Whence infusion of grace and deletion of sin do as infallibly succeed to such an act of love as the infusion of a rational soul into a Body after humane generation Thus our Petitioner like a quaint Pen-man so couches his demands as to comprize in them much more than the letter seems to express Wipe away all my iniquities This word all is emphatick and expresses with some energy a desire not only to have those sins which appear before him and reproach his ingratitude to be remitted But also what ever are set upon his score in that eternal Book of accounts and contracted by him either through ignorance inadvertence or oblivion in not discharging what he owes for their expiation Our Petitioner had reason to add this Particle and frame his Petition full if we reflect upon what Solomon sayes Ecclesiast ch 8. That all things concerning another life shall here be wrapt up in doubts and uncertainties No security of our state whether markt out to punishment or reward For were there any means to this discovery the benefits of God would lay it open yet we find these indiscriminately dispenced to the just and impious to preserve some in humility he loads them with afflictions lest others should despair he fills them with abundant consolations some he draws by the Lure of temporal blessings so to buoy them up from despair or in reward of some moral vertue others he steeps in the bitterness of wants and disgraces to stop the Carreer of pride and excess and by a paternal correction he presents an opportunity by which they are either deterred from sin or may satisfy in this life for their transgressions Sometimes again the doom of punishment begins here which is to last for eternity so that neither adversity nor prosperity give us any light into the state of Men's consciences whence our Penitent fearing lest any unknown guilt may stain his Soul petitions that all his iniquities may be taken away St. Paul confesses after a severe inquisition of himself though he found no matter of accusation yet he durst not trust to his own justification knowing well the judgments of God and Men are very different and if we groap so much in our own concerns what madness upon every slight conjecture and surmise to pass sentence of condemnation upon our Neighbour This savours not the Spirit of an Apostle who would have no other Vmpire than Christ the true searcher of hearts and the same maxime was fixed in our Holy Penitent who not daring to secure himself from all imputations cryes out wipe away all my iniquities that no sin upon what account contracted may escape the Seal of God's pardon How many have been seen who beheld themselves with an Eye of satisfaction as patterns of innocency as possessing within themselves the treasure of grace to a great proportion and yet brought to the Test were found empty Vessels and poor Objects of frailty and malice St. Peter told his blessed Master he was ready to attend him unto Prisons nay even to Death it self but the event proved he had not the Ground-work of such a fortitude within him St. Paul whilst he played the fierce Lyon preying upon the Blood of Christians believed all his flames were enkindled by a just zeal of God's Holy Lawes and how do we know but many actions of ours may proceed from a gross ignorance which will not render us inexcusable at the latter day what greater Evidence of integrity than to Sacrifice life in any cause and yet this we have seen done on either side of two opinions diametrically opposite to each other Both these propose unto themselves Almighty God above all things amiable as the motive of their sufferings yet without dispute one of the two must needs be involved in errours and in the total privation of grace Hhw justly then doth our Penitent suspending all judgement of his condition beg that all his iniquities may be taken away that if he have not perfect Charity he may obtain it if he go astray he may be reduced into the right path if in darkness he may be filled with light and since we are ignorant of our own state and that God hath reserved the knowledge of this Truth to himself he is resolved in his petition never to omit this clause Et omnes iniquitates meaâ— dele and wipe away all my iniquities The Application In pursuance of this design we are in regard of our own infirmity and indisposition never to Lull our selves in security since God's promises in order to the remission of sins require on our part that we be worthily disposed for the reception of the Sacraments Now to have an infallible assurance of this fitted disposition or that we are not guilty of some secret pride some mortal sin undiscovered some inordinate cleaving to the World and the like is by God's Providence locked up in his own Breast so to keep us humble wary and in fear of his judgments Wherefore all we have to do is to hope in the mercy of God in the merits of Christ's passion and efficacy of the Sacraments and then conclude with the same Prayer of our Penitent that all our defects and transgressions whether known or concealed to us may be blotted out Amen CHAP. XXI Cor mundum creâ— in me Deus Create in me O God a clean heart OUr Holy Penitent in the Ten precedent Verses working like an expert Carver by way of defalcation had still desired he might be brought into shape by cutting off all those Excrescencies which made him monstrous in God's Eye Now he petitions believing his whole frame vitiated and unfit for his design that a new model might be drawn up of him and new materials inserted in the whole structure
he might alwayes dwell with him and that he may never more tast the bitter absence of his Holy Spirit Et spiritum sanctum tuum c. Spiritual Men who have employed their thoughts on the subject of the mission of the divine persons unto Creatures discover advantages by this Embassy unto humane nature which seem to surpass all the wonders of our faith at least they are conveyed unto us with more sensible delight First they say when a Soul is priviledged with a visit from that divine spirit she doth not only receive inherent and accidentall grace not only splendours which irradiate and ardourâ— which enflame but even the substantial Principium the Holy Ghost from whence they flow Witness St. Paul 2. ad Rom. The charity of God is diffused through our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us The Philosopher sayes that two Lovers if possibly would become but one because this identity would destroy all fear of separation and since they cannot arrive to this at least by conversation discourse and mutual presence they give themselves to one another Now the love of God is all-powerful no obstacle can hinder the perfect union to which it tends wherefore this love enclining the divine person to unite and surrender up himself unto a Soul she finds herself immediately fastned to him by other chains than those of his immensity it is by grace and charity she is enslaved and their efficacy is to prodigious that were not that divine spirit already at the door they would draw him thither and court him to a most intimate alliance Our Holy Penitent well knew the truth of this Divinity by the amorous operations he had once felt within him for this great gift of God was no stranger to him whence I wonder not if he court its preservation since in it is contained the whole treasure of his immense love If then he shall please to secure this present to him he will in return consecrate to his honour all the fruit of his understanding and will his thoughts shall ever dwell in him and from this meditation he hopes to enkindle such a flame within him as all the waves of adversity or allurements of the World shall never be able to quench his constant Prayer therefore shall be withdraw not from me thy holy spirit After he had thus considered the dignity of the person communicated to a devout Soul he then descends to the particulars of his negotiation The first point is that this divine spirit is the Prinâ—ipium or great wheel which gives motion to all her supernatural and meritorious actions by which the Soul exceeds her own strength and gets above all her natural faculties and without this spirit Man is feeble impotent and can act nothing generous in a spiritual life The second advantage of this Treaty is that this divine person becomes the object of our understanding and will so that he is a known object in a knowing will and a beloved object in a loving will then it is that the Soul hath God within her who alone entertains and employes her thoughts and affections it is towards him she raises acts of faith and love setting a value upon him beyond all the World as the most excellent Being to whom she can consecrate herself Another benefit of this mission is that this divine spirit communicates himself unto a Soul as her sole treasure and appropriated sovereign good and in such a manner as she will not only find God within her but likewise that he belongs to her as her proper right the serious thought of which happy possession must doubtless much asswage all the bitterness of this life In sequel of these irradiations our Holy Penitent is at a stand comparing the liberalities of his good God with his own ingratitude For God had given himself up to him to be the instrument of all his supernatural operations to be the object of his thoughts and repository of his affections in requital our unfortunate Penitent rejecting this divine legate hath taken up the arms of sensualities against him filled his memory with Earthly species and consulted with brutish passions O bad exchange When he had thus reproached himself of his disloyalty he then converts his Eye to the shipwrack he had made for by one mortal sin he hath lost God as he is God of grace and glory though not as he is God of nature for as such a one he still remains to cast thunderbolts of vengeance upon his guilty head but he is resolved if the divine goodness shall please to restore and continue to him himself in whom is found the source of so many precious treasures he will for the future manage them to his honour he will glorify him in all eternity and manifest to the world that through his grace he is made worthy not to have his holy spirit taken from him In temporal afflictions we lose it is true the gift but the giver is yet secured to us by sin we lose both So that there is no desolation can happen equal to what is thrown upon us by sin For whilest we lye under the guilt of mortal sin God is no more the Principium of our meritorious operations no more the object of our amorous powers nor to be claimed as our proper good and treasure and though his infinite beauties and perfections render him alwayes a source of all good imaginable yet to a Soul defiled with sin he is a spring that diverts his stream in another Channel he is a treasure locked up whose Key is taken away and all-right of entrance decreed against him These are the miserable circumstances which attend the loss of God's holy spirit of which our Holy Penitent being very conscious incessantly repeats Lord withdraw not from me thy holy spirit Theodoret sayes that St. Peter having heard from Christ's own Mouth Thou shalt thrice deny me would feign have fled many Leagues from that occasion but his love was so great as he held it less evil to follow and deny him than to fly away and confess him He took so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazzard his Soul than the loss of his blessed sight deeming it less unhappiness to renounce him than not to be in the Eye of him whom he loved so dearly If then his corporal presence so ravished this Apostle what a charm must it be to possess within us a divine spirit what solicitude to preserve this treasure in whose participation consists all the happiness we are any wayes capable of in the condition of this our mortality Ah blame not then our Petitioner if again and again he sues under this forme Lord take not thy holy spirit from me Many Nations have made their gods Prisoners chaining them fast in their Temples the Lacedemonians hampered their god Mars with Cords of Silk Hercules with Fetters of Gold fancying to themselves that if they could enjoy their Company though by violence they
of Christ God-man The Church calls it a happy fault in that it merited so great a Redeemer in the same sense our Penitent contemplating the cause of his redemption admires his happy deliverance and urges for this spirit of perfection that as the just was to be the motive of a more copious effusion of his blood so he becoming perfect might asswage his torments to which end he cryes confirm me with a principal spirit Again our Penitent is animated to this his petition upon the consideration that when a perfect Soul whom God hath designed to salvation falls into any notable default as she may not being impeccable he lets her not lye mired in the filth of sin without any feeling of her condition but presently solicits her with his exciting graces and this with such importunity as he told St. Paul it was hard for him to play the obstinate against so many darts of his love and if ever that parable was fulfilled where out Saviour having found the lost sheep witnesses more joy for the recovery of that one than of the Ninety nine he had left in the desart it is certainly in the resettlement of a Soul in his favour whom he hath marked out to be his 'T is true sometimes Almighty God withdraws his sustaining hand and permits them to dash upon the Rock of offence so to humble them that sin might effect what his Grace could not yet the conclusion is alwayes to their greater good and if he makes use of so many stratagems to bring them to their former state of happiness being once reâ—urned with what profusions of his bounty with what inundations of his grace doth he overflow them It is then a Soul makes a new oblation of herself to God renewing her vowes and promises and soon regains her former lustre nay becomes more accomplished improving still her light and vertue and with these penitential ornaments she invites her Espouse to a visit who declares in the Canticles that he is descended into the Garden of Filberts and amidst the Apples of the Valleys Intimating by these words that his satisfaction is to behold a Soul freed from the sink of sin to spring anew and bud forth in the practice of eminent vertues to see her like fire always in motion acting generous things for his service To hear her amidst the baits of this world to send forth amorous Sighs after him passionately coveting to be discharged from the mass of the body so to arrive at the fruition of him and he is so good as to answer every motion of this converted Soul She never looks on him but he amorously casts an Eye upon her she never thinks on him but he requites the kindness with a thought on her she never gives herself unto him but he as liberally bestowes himself upon her These are the entertainments our Holy Penitent doth promise to himself by means of this spirit of perfection he confesses he hath been humbled by his sin Next he hopes he is raised by his Grace and now he expects the consequence of his merciful reconciliation imploring confirm me with a principal spirit When I read this clause it minds me of what St. Paul sayes that where sin hath abounded there Grace doth many times superabound For doubtless nothing adds wings to the fervour of a true Penitent like to the remembrance of their past failings whence I gather our Petitioner upon these seeds of his restauration will add a superstructure of mystick Divinity and raise himself to as high a pitch of Vnion with God as in this life Man is capable of But in this enterprize he is ignorant what method to follow because no certain rule is set down by God for its acquisition it being a pure gift of his like Grace gratis given that we might know we have a Master in Heaven who instructs immediately by himself his Disciples in the maxims of true wisdom Wherefore our Penitent trusts not to his own industry or vertue but supplicates for divine immissions as a thing independent of any other means than his own free Donation confirm me with a principal spirit This Science of mystick Divinity is defined an experimental knowledge of God arising from a most elevated union of the will with him For the will is the Organ of a spiritual rellish by which Man tastes the sweetness of God and by this experience teaches the understanding what God is Now this savour tast or spiritual feeling may be said to be a kind of knowing because love it self according to St. Austin is a knowledge but a knowledge so secret as unintelligible to any but the person in whom it is as it is commonly said of a smart pain none can so justly conceive it as he that suffers Now our Penitent thirsts after this banquet he knowes it fortifies and confirms a Soul in the practice of devotion and at a pinch sustains her in the rude combats of temptations For being united unto God she is above all the attractives and violence of Creatures So that enjoying this delicious guest by an experimental knowledge there is doubtless nothing in this World of force to separate her from God This Job seems to insinuate Chap. 1. Place me near to thee and I fear not the attempt of any And St. Paul likewise apprehending himself in this secure state sets the whole World at defiance who sayes he shall separate me from the love of Jesus Christ As this security must needs give birth to continual acts of joy No less are the ravishments which overwhelm a Soul in the practice of this devotion for it is a certain lively experiment of God's intimate presence of his essence of his perfections and divine operations and this with an experimental affection or strong assurance that we love God that we make his glory our interest that by complacence and friendship we share in what he hath it being the Nature of true love to make all things common The first effect is to work a compleat Metamorphosie in us for to transform a thing is to separate it from its natural form and communicate another not only interiour but exteriour Now when a Soul is arrived to a holy complacence in God and to a strict amity with him she is devested of the form of sin and vitious affections which was her natural inclination and receives within the Center of her heart new affections desires wholly Divine and motions quite different from what Nature prompts her to This made St. Paul cry I live now not I but Christ doth live in me and this same motive gave life to our Petitioners present address that gaining this spirit of perfection he might loose himself and by that enterchange come to know what God is That he is a source of goodness eminency and beauty that he merits all honour glory reverence and praise Then comparing himself to God he beholds how vile captive and contemptible a Creature he is Lastly comparing God to himself he
admires the greatness of his clemency and sweetness that designs to lodge in so despicable a place as his conscience the inestimable treasures of his wisdom hence enfired with a glowing flame of love he can think on nothing but him study no satisfaction that relates not to him and abhorrs all sensual pleasure whatsoever In sequel of this arises a delight and sweetness which surpasses all that is Earth Nay even the capacity of Man in this life as many Saints have witnessed the same crying out O Deus contine undas gratiae That such a torrent of delights overwhelmed them as if they were not moderated they must needs have opened a passage unto Death O! Who would not be overcome by such a conquering spirit confirm me with a principal spirit Another effect of this spirit is to settle the Soul in a great quiet and repose free from all joy grief or the like for every thing is at rest when in its proper place and center Now God is our Souls final end nor can she be more intimately united unto him in this life than by the power of this Celestial Philosophy wherefore the storms of passions very little molest a Soul enriched with this spirit all things pass in peace and tranquility and though it be true that we must still labour in a certain languishment and desire until we reach our Center yet this is so attempered by the goodness of God as it is no wayes Irksome A holy person expresses this very pathetically saying My Lord and God who art the support and strength of those who faithfully seek you at the entrance of your Paradise I behold you and beholding I cannot yet say what Object I have bofere me because I see nothing that is visible there is only one thing I dare owne to know that I am both ignorant of what I see nor shall I be ever able to know it For raising my Soul to the highest pitch I find you infinite and incomprehensible beyond the access of my imagination and whilest my thoughts would go on and make a further inquisition a mist of ignorance surrounds me But Oh my God what is this ignorance but a learned ignorance Nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis this obscure Night is a splendour overspread with delights the sum of my joy and consolation in this life is to consider that you are infinity it self incomprehensible and an inexhausted Treasure What felicity one day to possess in glory a good without end and which exceeds what the understanding can imagine the heart desire or tongue can express and that these Clouds which now involve us shall break forth into a Day of eternal Sun-shine By which you may see that holy persons in these admirable transactions though they are left in darkness and meet not with a compleat allay of all their desires yet it breeds no disquiet and all the rest is supplyed by a perfect submission to the will of God not desiring even Heaven it self but according to the measure of his degree Our Holy Penitent having received the fruit of one part of this meditation by his gracious deliverance from the servitude of sin he now covets to be sheltered under the secure Bastion of this principal spirit Confirm me c. Some expositours understand by this principal spirit the first person of the blessed Trinity unto whom power is peculiarly attributed Whence they inferr in this petition he pretends to a gift of Rule and Government that by his prudent orders circumstanced with Religion he might induce his Subjects to pay what they owe to God himself and to one another By which that chosen Nation committed to his guidance might flourish and he himself make some reparation for the sufferings thrown upon them in punishment of his transgressions Others conceive that by this clause he aims at the Spirit of Prophecy because in the subsequent verse he undertakes to play the Master and teach the wicked Principles of Heaven to which nothing would more conduce than a prophetick faculty Notwithstanding these Opinions I adhere to my first conception that the spirit of perfection is the scope of his desires because it includes the others for perfection is styled by Masters of spirituality a spirit of wisdom and by consequence proper for a Governour and as to Revelation it is most certain that contemplatives are illuminated and receive irradiations which naturally they could not attain to they are often so surcharged with supernatural lights and knowledge a prospect of the World's Scene being laid open to them as even ravished with admiration they seem to suffer with an excess of communications which made our Holy Penitent in some such like transport cry out Anima mea cognoscit nimis that the divine operations within his Soul exceed the limits of her capacity Wherefore we conclude that perfection is an abreviate of Gods Vniversal favours to Man and that our Holy Penitent in this his petition comprehends what soever he can ask confirm me with a principal spirit The Application We are taught in this clause to aspire unto perfection which consists in these degrees The first is to obtain grace and charity this perfection is requisite to all Christians and is so essential to a spiritual life that without it we cannot make one step towards Heaven The second perfection is of councel and consists in a certain disposition of the Soul to perform readily and without difficulty on her part not only what is commanded but also works of supererogation and this in a manner more pure and more spiritual than usually is done to this Christ our Lord exhorts us in the fifth of St. Matthew Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect The third perfection consists in eternal felicity where we shall be united to a sovereign good by a clear vision and fervent love This is called our final perfection because there is none greater The other two branches are but the means to arrive at this The subject then of our petition must be to attain to our Beatitude and this is truly to be confirmed with a principal spirit Amen CHAP. XXVII Docebo iniquos vias tuas I will teach the wicked thy wayes OUr Holy Penitent like a Souldier compleatly armed who expects but the Signal to fall on believes himself now fittted for great designs His first undertaking is to chaulk out the wicked the Paths of Salvation an enterprize worthy so great a Prince and so great a Penitent and which Christ our Lord an increated wisdom made the sole motive of his becoming Man This he declares in express terms asserting that he came not to call the just but sinners Upon this foundation I conceive he imposed upon us an obligation of loving our Neighbour as our selves By vertue of which command we are to expose our corporal life and fortune for the preservation of our Neighbours spiritual good if Christ sets so high a value on a drop of water or scrap of
that grand ballancing of all their good and bad deeds and by this means who knowes whether he hath not only disjoyned and torn the Soul from the Body but even from God for all eternity These dismal thoughts prompt him to fly for Sanctuary and it is no where to be found but at the Throne of God's mercy which he implores Free me from blood c. Again he considers with what a severe Eye God looks upon the sin of homicide commanding in Moses Law that blood alone should be the price and satisfaction for blood nay he extends it even to irrational Creatures that if any happen to be the cause of Man's death the Beast what ever it be should lose its life It was to prevent this unnatural violence that he prohibited the eating of blood so to cut off any practice which might diminish the horrour of it Besides the remorse and tortures of conscience which alwayes attend this sin sufficiently evidences that though in other Crimes his patient Justice seems for a while to lye asleep yet this he alwayes revenges upon the place For if the Thunder-bolts of his anger do not immediately fall upon their heads as to the publick view at least he begins the execution from the first moment of the Fact committed disturbing their sleep with frightful Phantomes and filling their awakened hearts with dreads and terrours that their life is even a burden and Irkesome to them of this are extant innumerable examples both in sacred and prophane Histories too long here to recite It is not unworthy our observation that a murdered Body should bleed afresh as it hath been often experimented at the presence of the murderer It is true many give natural reasons of the thing attributing it to the vital spirits not yet extinguished in the remnants of the blood retreated into several Cranies of the Body which by an Antipathy at the approach of their adversary fall into a Commotion and by this disturbance occasions the blood again to flow Others say it may proceed from a simpathy supposing the murderer to have upon his weapon wherewith he gave the wound or in some other part about him certain dropps of blood of the deceased by which Sympathetick vertue it receives motion in order to its reunion But my design not being to insist on Philosophical disputes I will not labour to weaken the force of their Arguments and only assert my Opinion which is that it speaks simply the extraordinary way of God which he holds sometimes in one kind sometimes in another to manifest and publish offendours of this nature Our Holy Penitent may be brought in for an instance unto whom it was declared by God's own command that notwithstanding all his Artifices in contriving Vriah his Death it should be exposed in the view of the whole World that future ages might see he whom he had chosen as the delight of his heart should have no priviledge in this particular and though he would abate something of his wonted rigour in not exacting his life for a satisfaction yet he would bring it near to his door by the rebellion of his Children with the Enmity and Machinations of many Conspiratours against him and that the Law of retaliation was not executed against him perhaps he owes it to this clause of the petition which he seems with more than usual fervour to have preferred repeating O God God of my Salvation We may here reflect how pernicious a thing passion is when once it hath got the Mastery and how soon it gets strength with the aid of dangerous occasions Our Penitent knew well that the Divine precept Non occides thou shalt not kill did not only forbid the taking away of our Neighbours life but likewise all rancour or malice towards him all injury by word or deed which may touch upon his honour or person all disputes contest or impetuosity of Choler these are the seeds of that monstrous fruit homicide as St. John sayes who hates his Brother is a homicide For by nourishing within you a little spark of animosity this from the heart appears in the Eyes which are the glass of the inward temper thence it breaks into words and at last sadly ends in his destruction Behold our Kingly Prophet and now an humble petitioner in his own behalf he is said to have been the meekest of Men and in consideration of his lenity and mildness in Government God spun out his reign to the Term of Forty years which was granted to few or none of the Jewish Kings with what patience did he sustain the reproaches and maledictions of Semei with what an admirable temper the long and restless persecution of Saul how tenderly issued he forth his orders touching Absalom that though he were actually in arms against him and thirsted after nothing but his life and Throne yet he commanded a hair of his Head should not be touched Notwithstanding all this upon a suddain seized with a passion of love both his sweet temperament and all his former habits of vertue proved of little use unto him The Christal of his understanding was blemished with gross vapours arising from brutish pleasures the purling stream of his inclinations which was wont to flow softly without noise and from the source of vertue is now grown into a storm of fury it is so deprived of reason as to imagine his own good and safety to depend upon the ruine of his Neighbour and therefore hastens to take vengeance upon him who never gave him the least shadow of real offence O what a Tyranny is the Rule of passion to make us love what is not amiable and hate what is not odious to push us on to desire what we should abhor and fly from vvhat vve ought most to covet Our holy penitent hath served under this oppression and novv petitions a release Free mee from blood c. Novv the Latins not using the vvord blood in the plural Number though the Greeks do hence it is that some infer and with reason that our Penitent aims at the remission of Adultery likewise because all carnal acts unlawful carry along with them a corruption both of flesh and blood this appears in Deut. Chap. 21. Where it is said that rotteness and worms shall be the inheritance of a luxurious person and as the one that is homicide destroyes the species of Man so adultery subverts those rules which are set down for his education a design which nature intends and drives at as well as Generation The one injures his Neighbour in his person the other in his honour and this not only of himself but casts an infamy upon his posterity It is storied of Vlysses that he met in his Travails with Circes the Enchantress vvho promised to make him immortal in case he vvould be naught with her and though he believed she was able to make good her promise yet he refused her less valuing immortality than fidelity to his Wife Susanna far less esteemed of
of severity Wherefore where he saw reason sweetness and all the Wonders he had wrought could effect nothing with those obdurate and unbelieving spirits he was forced to a course adverse to his meekness and to the love he bare that chosen Nation designing the total subversion of their City and place of Sacrifice and their utter dispersion through the habitable World and this he foretold them all bathed in Tears to shew his resentment for what he needs must do there being no other expedient to draw them from that strange dotage on victimes and immolation of Beasts From these premises we may conclude that whilst the Law was in its vigour Sacrifices as to the universality of the people were the only rules set down for the reparation of their failings and till our Penitent had a particular Patent for his exemption none was ever more magnificent in his exhibitions in this kind Nay he made it the Theam of his exhortations to others that they should consecrate their Vowes and discharge by way of Sacrifice what they owe unto the Lord God But when God was pleased to reach unto him the fair draught of the mystery of the incarnation wherein he read the Lawes evacuation the darkness of its Figures to break forth into the splendour of a Crucifyed oblation from whence arises a perfume whose odour would lay open Heavens Gates that to this Law of terrour would succeed one of love and which like to its Priesthood was to be eternal his desires heightned by these prophetick notions were certainly inflamed to a great pitch of charity and strengthened with a vigorous and lively Faith pushed him on to vehement longings to become a Member of that Kingdom of Grace then to flourish in the Hearts of Men. In this manner prepared by internal acts of vertue of repentance for his misdeeds submission to his will patience under the weight of his Chastisements no wonder if the Eye of Heaven pleased to behold an Object so worthy of his special favour should take him out of the Common track of the Mosaick way and conduct him by the Beams of an Evangelical light So that supported with Grace by a firm hope in the merits of the Messias to come he might now void of any blame as to himself say thou art not delighted with Holocausts c. The Application This Clause seems but a confirmation of the precedent Verse wherein our Holy Penitent doth specify in the Example of a Holocaust how little valuable our actions are if they be not circumstanced with the approbation of Heaven For amongst all the Religious ordinations of the Jews there was none that expressed their entire submission and dependance upon God like to that of a Holocaust and yet our Holy Petitioner declares God is not delighted with it that is if performed in his person whom he had instructed in the oblations of a more perfect Sacrifice not so gross and carnal as that of Beasts but which hath a resemblance with what the Angels and blessed do incessantly offer up from their flaming Brests Let us then in imitation ascend from vertue to vertue and proportionably to the communication of his Graces aspire to a life more perfect remembring we are to improve our stock according to the Sum we have to negotiate God grant then we may give a just account Amen CHAP. XXXV Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus A Sacrifice to God is a troubled Spirit AFter our Penitents Declaration that God required not at his Hands the external right of Sacrifice he comes now to specify what homage he is to pay saying a Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit Now if you look upon the principles of spiritual Masters this oblation seems very opposite to what they design for the main intent of all their prescriptions drive at this as to make us insensible of any Earthly Objects which might turmoil the Spirit and to hinder a quiet repose in the Soul without which no fruit can be reaped in contemplation Nay indeed its necessary in order to the meritorious performance of any good work this appears in Aaron who reprehended by Moses that upon the loss of his Beloved Daughter he forbare to eat of the Sacrifices made this answer how can I please God by eating or any other Ceremony whilest I possess a sad and troubled Mind But you must know there is a two-fold sorrow one that springs from God the other from the World this gives life that Death St. Hierom calls a Soul crushed with austerity and fasting a Sacrifice so that by this oblation of a troubled spirit our Penitent means the combat of a vertuous Man in subduing his passions and this St. Gregory terms a continual martyrdom in which is daily offered up a living victime Holy pure and acceptable to God by which a Man may be resembled to one that flying his Enemy kills himself In Leviticus 12. A command is laid upon the Jews that they should celebrate with great solemnity the Feast of expiation and the manner how it was to be done is set down that they should afflict their Souls Now this seems very incongruous to the nature of a Feast but since our felicity consists in suffering here we must be merry to see ourselves piously sad green wood cast on the Fire both weeps and burns our breast may be sad in one part and cheerful in the other The Prophet Baruc sayes the Soul that bewails her Sins gives Glory unto God for as there is nothing more sad than sin so doubtless nothing more delightful as worthily to deplore it Wherefore this troubled spirit imports not a tortured conscience but a Lancet in the Hand of a dexterous Artist who making a passage for corruption the sooner cures the wound so likewise groans tears wringings of Hands outcryes and such like Testimonies of a disturbed Mind are the several compositions of a Sacrifice pleasing to God A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit St. Austin sayes Man comes into the World wrapt up in such a Cloud of Ignorance in order to truth and replenished with such a swarm of desires that were he left to his own inclination there is no evil he would not commit This is evident in the Comportment of Men before Cities were built and pollicy of Laws established which restrain the impetuosity of their passions for it is storied they killed and devoured one another falsifying all equity and justice So that to deserve the name of Man we ought to bridle and check the insolency of our sensual appetites but to become a Sacrifice pleasing to God under the Character of a troubled spirit not only the Body must be macerated and brought under but the spirit likewise must be enslaved and captivated to the Faith of Christ In the composition of this Sacrifice I find spiritual directors are divided some think the most powerful ingredient is to chastise the Body waste it with abstinence and hair-cloths and spend it with labour by which harsh
usage it is weakned and the Soul gets the Mastery to do what she pleases as with an Enemy overcome disarmed and at our Feet This Opinion hath given birth to so many austerities in several orders to so many Crucifying inventions that the Soul might become more powerful by extenuating the Body and so render it less rebellions to the decrees of reason This way hath the approbation of St. Paul who in his Fift Chapter to the Galathians sayes that those who are servants to Christ have crucifyed their flesh with their vices and concupiscencies Others again say it is not enough to quel and reform your spirit by the Body but that your Body is likewise to be reduced to order by the Mind because in the commission of sin the Body is not alwayes the offendour and deserves not to be harassed with rude strokes like an Asse wherefore they judge it more expedient that the superior portion of Man to wit his reason should interpose and taking into consideration what is prejudicious or conducing to Salvation frame resolutions accordingly both to avoid such actions as are pernicious and embrace such as are to her interest And if this be put in Execution with a vertue Heroick it will infallibly oblige the sensitive part to quit her pursuits and follow the dictamens of the Soul For example suppose I am transported with a passion of Anger for some disgrace thrown upon me my part is to reproach my self with the Vanity of being concerned in the trifling affairs of the World to that degree as to forfeit my quiet which is more pretious and if I generously pardon my Neighbour this injury will at last conclude in my honour by this means all will succeed in peace and tranquility I shall be fortified against all Events and so rationally govern my passions especially if guided with a moderate severity to my Body Our Holy Penitent having undertaken to instruct the wicked and setled in the possession of a principal spirit that is a spirit of perfection was not blind in the conduct of himself wherefore we may believe he squared out this Sacrifice according to the rules of a good and prudent Artist he expresses in the first of his penitential Psalms that his Soul was troubled and in another place it was like wax melted before the Fire and that his Enemies neer him to wit his passions assaulted him with strange violence insomuch as he confesses his sole refuge as if reason were then useless to him was to play the deaf and dumb and by that passive comportment avoiding contests he Sacrificed his troubled spirit to his Creatour A Sacrifice to God c. St. Gregory Nyssen descants upon God's proceeding with the Israelites in commanding them to set up a brazen Serpent at the sight of which those that should be bit with those venemous Beasts might immediately find their cure and why sayes he did not God take a shorter cut by destroying all those Serpents which had given an end to that Plague he had sent amongst them at last he satisfies himself with this reason that whilst the Hebrews beheld that Soveraign Medicament in casting up their Eyes to Heaven they might have occasion to consider from whence they received their deliverance which otherwise that gross ungrateful people would soon have forgot So that to draw them to pay what they owe to his goodness he was faign to lengthen out their afflictions Job likewise whilst he was scraping his Soares upon the Dunghill said Lord when I was in prosperity I heard thee but now in my affliction I see thee Which shews nothing gives a more intimate knowledge of God than to be surrounded with tribulation the Soul in prosperity growes proud deaf and careless so that she must smart in the sense to be made sensible With how many charming Courtships doth the espouse in the Canticles woe his Darling to open the door but all in vain she is not to be wrought upon but inter angustias when afflicted and in misery Jonas in the Whales Belly the Prodigal in the Pig-sty the Sick in his Feaver thinks and calls upon God but when in sports and pastimes sailing in a Sea of plenty and delights all our senses are shut up and no passage open to his merciful call But to be pinched in the last of any temporal misfortune as it awakens a Soul to stretch out for succour so doth it no less bow God's powerful Arm towards us This he declares to Moses out of a bush which he made the Throne of his Glory to shew that the affliction of his people made him run after that Prophet and retrive him in the Thickest part of the desart and from thence commission him in order to their deliverance St. Gregory sayes that God appeared to Job in a Whirl-wind because having hurried him into a boisterous storm of afflictions he would himself enjoy no calmer Weather but let him know he was there to secure him Of Joseph it is said he went down with him into the Pit nor left him in his Bonds and Esay 12. speaking in the person of God sayes my people is gone down into Egypt Assur hath afflicted them without cause and now what do I here My people captive and I at liberty VVhat do I here My people trod under Foot and I enjoy the smoak of Incense and Sacrifice what do I here No no there is no Sacrifice acceptable to God like to a troubled spirit and this our Holy Penitent had wrought out even to perfection For he declares how all his Bones were in disorder his Loyns filled with illusions and spectres at the ghastly memory of his Sins his groans were like the roarings of a Lyon and the burthen of his Folly so weighty as it bowed him even to the ground if his Flesh appeared before the Face of God's anger it dissolved into corruption and had not one sound part if before the frightful aspect of his transgression it gave a trembling and disquiet to all his Bones the night he spent in bathing his Couch with Tears and in the day he confessed that the hand of God was heavy upon him so that if ever the Sacrifice of a troubled spirit that is of a person discomposed by the resentment of his ingratitude was offered up to God it was certainly in our Holy Penitent who amidst all his afflictions had this comfort A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit Spiritual directors lay down as the ground work of a life of Sanctity an interiour abnegation of our selves by which we give a repulse to our selves For when once we come to devest our selves of love then the terrours of mortifications torments and adversity will find no effect then generous and Heroick Acts will be the productions of such a Soul for solid vertue like a Rose amidst Thornes seldome springs forth but in the soyl of crosses austerities and repentance Those that are seised with this holy aversion against themselves mind not the hardships